Greenberg v. Morris

436 S.W.2d 734, 1968 Mo. LEXIS 753
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 31, 1968
DocketNo. 53603
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 436 S.W.2d 734 (Greenberg v. Morris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greenberg v. Morris, 436 S.W.2d 734, 1968 Mo. LEXIS 753 (Mo. 1968).

Opinion

HOLMAN, Chief Justice.

In this action plaintiff sought to recover the alleged balance due on a $25,000 promissory note. The makers of the note, Sam Morris and Mary Morris, were the original defendants. Sam died before the case was tried and Mary, as executrix of his estate, was substituted in his stead. Mary subsequently remarried and is now known as Mary Sticklen. Defendants pleaded that the note was originally issued without any consideration and that plaintiff was not a holder in due course. They also filed a counterclaim in which the relief sought was an order cancelling said note. A jury was waived and upon a trial before the court a judgment was entered for plaintiff for the principal balance of $23,728.40, and interest in the sum of $5,220.24. A judgment was also entered for plaintiff on defendants’ counterclaim. Defendants have duly appealed.

There is very little dispute concerning the facts. The following factual statement is supported by substantial evidence and we find the facts stated to be true.

In the year 1962 Sam and Mary Morris were the owners of the real estate located at 600 South Brentwood in Clayton, Misso.uri. In June of that year the Morrises made application for a new loan on the property through Mr. Luther A. Blue with the Oren E. and R. G. Scott Real Estate Company. Mr. Blue was able to obtain a loan for them in the amount of $255,000. However, the deed of trust was prepared in the amount of $280,000 and secured what was described as a Series “A” note in the amount of $255,000, and a Series “B” note in the amount of $25,000, the deed of trust providing that the Series “A” note would take precedence over the Series “B” note. Both notes were made payable to Norma Barrow, an employee of the Scott Company, who was a straw party, and who endorsed each of the notes without recourse shortly after they were executed. The “B” note was to be paid in monthly installments of $175 each, beginning August 1, 1962, with interest to be deducted from each monthly payment before crediting the balance on the principal. The makers of the [736]*736notes received no money because of their execution of the Series “B” note, and after it was endorsed by the payee it was delivered to them and retained by them until they sold the property a few weeks later. The Series “B” note was executed by Mr. and Mrs. Morris upon the suggestion of Mr. Blue who explained in his testimony that while the loan was for $255,000 the “B” note was prepared and signed so that if Mr. Morris decided to sell the property, and the purchaser had only a small down payment, the financing would already have been accomplished to the extent of $25,000 over and above the amount due on the “A” note by having the purchaser assume and agree to pay the “B” note which the Morrises would retain and collect from the purchaser. In other words, it was considered a sort of advanced financing in the event it was needed on a subsequent sale, but, if it was not needed, the Morrises could have had it cancelled and released of record at any time.

In a contract dated June 23, 1962, not closed until August of that year, the Mor-rises sold this property to an attorney named William Sabath, The sale price was $273,000, and obviously the “B” note was not considered as a valid loan which would continue as a lien on the premises at the time of the contract because that instrument recited that there was a deed of trust on the premises for $255,000 and that the purchaser was to pay $18,000 in cash. Before the Sabath transaction was completed the Morrises delivered the “B” note to their agent, Mr. Oxenhandler, at the Title Insurance Company where the transaction was closed. Mrs. Morris testified that she delivered it “because it had to go along with the papers pertaining to the building in order to have a clear title for the next buyer, and it was, in my opinion, to be removed from record according to the sales contract, which says, ‘Sold with a motgage of two hundred fifty-five thousand dollars ($255,000) and no others.’

However, the note was not cancelled or released of record and came into the hands of Mr. Sabath who kept it in his safe deposit box until he sold- the property about a year later. At that time the property was conveyed to Willard Oxenhandler and the “B” note delivered to. him. Apparently, Oxenhandler received the property primarily in satisfaction of a real estate commission owed him by Sabath.

On November 5, 1963, Mr. Oxenhandler sold the note to plaintiff for the sum of $17,450 — $15,000 of which was paid on that date and the $2,450 balance was to be paid within five years, or when the entire amount of the note had been paid to plaintiff, apparently whichever occurred first. The sale was consummated at the Lindell Trust Company, the parties being assisted by Russell Greenleaf, vice president. Plaintiff at that time borrowed the $15,000 from the bank, receiving a check therefor which he endorsed and delivered to Mr. Oxen-handler. No one had made any payments on the “B” note up to that time, but at Mr. Oxenhandler’s direction Mr. Greenleaf entered a notation on the note that the balance due on that date was $24,169.28, which had the effect of crediting the note with all of the $175.00 monthly payments which should have been made, according to the terms of the note, between the time the note was executed and the date it was sold. At that time Mr. Oxenhandler told plaintiff and Mr. Greenleaf that no payments had been made on the note but that he would start immediately paying the monthly payments and would continue to do so as long as he owned the property. Plaintiff knew Mr. and Mrs. Morris at that time and occasionally came in contact with them socially, but he did not talk with either of them about his contemplated purchase of this note. When he later told Mr. Morris that he had purchased the note Mr. Morris became angry because he had bought it without first talking with him.

Monthly payments were made and credited on the note to and including July 6, 1964. In August 1964 the deed of trust was foreclosed and the property was purchased by [737]*737Mr. and Mrs. Morris who did so because they were personally liable upon the $255,000 note secured by the deed of trust. The sale price was no more than the amount due on the * A” note. On November 20, 1964, the plaintiff had the sheriff serve a written notice upon Sam and Mary Morris notifying them that the Series “B” note was in default and that he was exercising the option provided in the deed of trust in declaring the entire principal amount due and payable at that time.

In a case of this nature we review the record de novo and determine the weight and value to be accorded the evidence and arrive at our own conclusions based upon the enrtire record. In so doing we give due deference to the opportunity of the trial judge to observe and hear the witnesses and to judge their credibility. Also, the judgment should not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. Civil Rule 73.01(d), V.A.M.R. The deference rule is not of much assistance in this case because there was very little conflict in the evidence. Our primary task is to determine the legal effect of the testimony and other evidence.

In our review of the evidence we have reached the conclusion that there was no consideration for the note at the time it was originally signed and issued by Sam and Mary Morris and that it was therefore unenforcible by anyone except a holder in due course. Sections 401.052 and 401.058 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.; Wohlschlaeger v. Dorsey, Mo.App., 206 S.W.2d 677 [6].

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
436 S.W.2d 734, 1968 Mo. LEXIS 753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greenberg-v-morris-mo-1968.